Christmas displays have been a customary pastime for centuries. The center of Christmas displays are Christmas trees and a Nativity scene.
According to Christian lore, the Christmas tree is associated with St Boniface and the German town of Geismar. Sometime in St Boniface's lifetime (c. 672-754) he cut down the tree of Thor in order to disprove the legitimacy of the Norse gods to the local German tribe. St. Boniface saw a fir tree growing in the roots of the old oak. Taking this as a sign of the Christian faith, he said “ . . . let Christ be at the center of your households . . . ” using the fir tree as a symbol of Christianity.
The custom of erecting a Christmas tree can be historically traced to 16th century Northern Germany and their settlements in the Baltic region. According to the first documented uses of a Christmas tree in Estonia, in 1441, 1442, and 1514 the Blackheads erected a tree for the holidays in their brotherhood house in Reval (now Tallinn). At the last night of the celebrations leading up to the holidays, the tree was taken to the Town Hall Square where the members of the brotherhood danced around it. In 1584, the pastor and chronicler Balthasar Russow wrote of an established tradition of setting up a decorated spruce at the market square where the young men “went with a flock of maidens and women, first sang and danced there and then set the tree aflame”. In that period, the guilds started erecting Christmas trees in front of their guildhalls: Ingeborg Weber-Kellermann (Marburg professor of European ethnology) found a Bremen guild chronicle of 1570 which reports how a small tree was decorated with “apples, nuts, dates, pretzels and paper flowers” and erected in the guild-house, for the benefit of the guild members' children, who collected the dainties on Christmas Day.
Christmas tree displays have become significant traditions and major events at many locations, such as the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree in New York City and the large Christmas tree at Victoria Square in Adelaide. During most of the 1970s and 1980s, the largest Christmas tree in the world was put up every year on the property of The National Enquirer in Lantana, Fla. This tradition grew into one of the most spectacular and celebrated events in the history of Southern Florida, but was discontinued on the death of the paper's founder in the late 1980s.
Norway also annually gifts a Christmas tree to Washington D.C. as a symbol of friendship between Norway and the US and as an expression of gratitude from Norway for the help received from the US during World War II. The United States' National Christmas Tree is lit each year on the South Lawn of the White House. Today, the lighting of the National Christmas Tree is part of what has become a major holiday event at the White House.
Christmas trees were originally decorated with natural objects. Over time, the decorations have evolved into trinkets or other ornaments, lights, bows, garland, a tree topper, and the like. The larger, more articulated displays, such as those presented above, strive for uniqueness to continue to attract visitors.
The challenge continues to conceive and develop more desirable Christmas tree decorations and displays to provide a memorable experience, and at larger commercial displays, attracting more visitors.